News Release

On the Ground in Gaza and Israel

The Israeli magazine +972 reports in “Tariq Abu Khdeir wasn’t the first and he won’t be the last” that “Israel has detained over 7,000 Palestinian children over the past 12 years. Many of them report beatings, abuse and a denial of rights by security forces. It’s time to put things in the wider context. The detention and abuse of Palestinian children by Israeli security forces has, for a change, been all over the international news media. Unfortunately, it took the severe beating of a 15-year-old boy who happens to have American citizenship for that to happen.” See video.

MAHMOUD ABURAHMA, [in Gaza], mahmoud at mezan.org
Communications and international relations director for the Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights in Gaza, AbuRahma recently wrote “Understanding Israel’s Actions,” which states: “It is essential that U.S. citizens understand that this conflict should not continue to be viewed as a symmetrical one any more. When they do not hear about it, there are vicious violations of international law against Palestinians every day; including closures/blockades, settlement activities (population transfer on our land), displacement, killings, detention and torture.”

JOE CATRON, [in Gaza], joecatron at gmail.com
A freelance writer, English teacher and activist living in Gaza, Catron is involved with the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, which advocates using people-driven economic pressure on Israel to assert rights for Palestinians. He is regularly tweeting at @jncatron.

YOUSEF AL-HELOU, [currently in Britain, may be in Gaza in a few days] al-helou.y at hotmail.com, @YousefAlhelou
Yousef Al-Helou is the Gaza-based correspondent for The Real News and a freelance journalist. He reported last week: “Is Israel Preparing New Military Offensive against Gaza?” He just completed his masters in journalism at Oxford University and is trying to get back into Gaza.

Her most recent report is “Army Violently Stops African Refugees Trying to Leave Israel.” While the recent video of Israeli’s chanting “Death to the Arabs” has begun recieving some attention, Tarachansky has been attempting to draw attention to this for some time. See her report of last year: “Israel’s New Generation of Racists.”

CINDY CORRIE, cindy at rachelcorriefoundation.org
CRAIG CORRIE, craig at rachelcorriefoundation.org
Cindy and Craig are the parents of Rachel Corrie, who was killed eleven years ago by Israeli troops in Gaza. Together, Cindy and Craig founded Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice. Craig Corrie last year wrote the piece “Ten Years on I Want Answers for my Daughter Rachel Corrie.” They were last in Gaza in November 2012 as Operation Pillar of Cloud began. They recently spent three weeks in Israel and the West Bank — May and June — at the Israeli Supreme Court for the hearing in Rachel’s case which continues and traveled throughout the area for two weeks. They were denied entry by Israel into Gaza through Erez but continue to be in contact with people there.